Lt-General Tukur Buratai is a former Chief of Army Staff and a former Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Benin. In this interview monitored on Arise Television, he speaks on his achievements as Chief of Army Staff and how Boko Haram and banditry were defeated during his tenure, among others issues, ANAYO EZUGWU reports

What are the things you know now that you could have done then that you didn’t do to ameliorate this insurgency?

You see, there is no vacuum, especially in military operations and military leadership. I left well-trained, highly professional officers who took over the mantle of leadership of the army, not only at the strategic level at the Army Headquarters but also across the formations and units of the Nigerian Army. And they continued the professional approach to countering the insurgents and also the bandits.

Well, the level of improvement, especially in terms of capacity building, the moral issues that have been very fundamental in ensuring the successes that were achieved, while I served as the Chief of Army Staff.

While we see some challenges, this is normal, but I believe there is nothing that I left that I will think about again because I know I left capable hands that are doing their best.

What could you have done that you know now that wasn’t done then, and what are the things we can learn from you?

First of all, you must understand it from a particular background. The enormous challenge that the country faced from 2009 up to 2014 and 2015, if we understand that challenge, will be a complete approach, not only within the military angle, but also the comprehensive approach that I’ve always said is the whole of government approach in tackling the insecurity in this country.

However, I know what we did while I was there. Very importantly, I would have loved to continue with our intelligence operations.

It’s very fundamental. I think if we have the intelligence and the capability from where we stopped, especially between 2019 and 2020, it was so wonderful that we were able to achieve a lot. And I think if it is continued, and I believe it’s being continued by my successors, but much still needed to be done to get that intelligence operations.

We had not relented, especially in seeing that we followed those insurgents, their supporters in terms of logistic suppliers, their arms couriers, those that give them food, water, and petroleum, oil, and lubricants.

So, if we look at it from that perspective, intelligence is key. Understanding the terrain is also very fundamental. It’s still part of the intelligence aspect. This country is so vast, with so many forests across the country that are uninhabited.

That’s why you have these continuous challenges here and there. By and large, I believe that complete support and involvement of all stakeholders, in this case, the government at all levels, the other security agencies, will help a lot.

I know the police have very good intelligence, and the Department of State Services also has very good intelligence. But coordination at all levels, you know, there was very good synergy at the strategic level, that is at the service chief’s level, but still much needed to be done at the tactical level. it’s very important, as well as the operational level.

Those on the ground need to have up-to-date intelligence of what is happening in their environment, and coordination is fundamental. They need to coordinate, and they need to know day-to-day happenings within the enclaves of the bandits, the terrorists and other criminal elements.

You’ve said a lot about the intelligence gathering or efficiency of intelligence gathering under your watch. What did you do with the intelligence that you gathered?

When you talk of terrorist financial support or terrorist funding, this is where we have different establishments or different sectors of the security, who need to coordinate. You don’t expect the soldier, who is in the field to start going about hunting for terrorist financiers locally or even internationally.

This country is so vast, with so many forests that are uninhabited. That’s why you have these continuous challenges… I believe that complete support and involvement of all stakeholders will help a lot

That’s why we have the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), which during my time, we coordinated very well with the agency. And you can see, just before I left, a task force was established to track and get those financiers although that aspect is not strictly a military responsibility.

But we coordinated because it involved a task force that will get to the root of the matter. So, in that respect also, we did very well.

A compilation was made by NFIU on terrorist financiers. And that is left to the appropriate authority or agency to handle them. But you see, just like what I read sometimes, that the military is not capable of stopping the bandits from collecting tax from the people.

That is not, strictly speaking, a military responsibility. That’s why the civil intelligence organisation, the police and the local authority have a very important role to play because you cannot wear a uniform and carry arms and identify somebody, who is collecting tax or who is not collecting tax.

So, it applies to the financial support that is given to the terrorists. It’s a complex network, and it’s a global issue, which involves even the ISIS, the Maghreb, as well as other parts of the world that support them.

So, this is something that is not tactical. It’s not operational. Also, it’s not a military operation. It’s more or less a civil responsibility. This is where you have the division of labour, responsibility, and collaboration with all the elements of government who are in charge of intelligence, financial crime, and so on. Even the issue of policing is fundamental.

We had time to seriously request the presence of the police, which in the end, were able to provide a good number of policemen in the NorthEast to deploy and also hold ground, so that the troops can advance to clear certain areas.

You were appointed Chief of Army Staff in 2015, and you left around 2021. You did not defeat the insurgency, did you?

What are your achievements as Chief of Army Staff within that period? I believe you have been in this country before 2015. And ThisDay Newspaper headquarters was bombed, and you are telling me that Boko Haram has not been defeated. They had already carved out their territory.

Those who know the North-East very well will tell you that they had already identified and blocked all access to the north eastern part of the country, especially parts of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe.

To be precise, the road from Yola going to Mubi, going to Ubaaskira, Michika, and the rest, there is a bridge there, they cut it off. It was destroyed. It was demolished, to use military terms.

That means they cut off between Michika and Madagali. So, that part of Adamawa was already cut off. Then, when you go further north, the bridge between Gamburungala and Dikwa was also demolished and cut off, so that part of the country was cut off.

You go to the northern border with Niger, it was cut off. The army had to rebuild that bridge during my time. There is General Okonkwo, an engineer, who did very well by reconstructing that bridge after providing him the necessary resources. Then, coming slightly south, Boko Haram destroyed the bridge between Biu and Dambua at Mandaragirau.

When you go towards Damaturu, the Kataruko Bridge was cut off. That was how they had already defined their territory before 2015, when we came in. So, when I was in Damaturu in 2015, I went to Buni Yadi. I had to cross that bridge. The bridge was destroyed. I had to detour and go. And the army had to construct a temporary bridge there.

That is roughly about 120,000 square kilometres of area that Boko Haram defined as its territory. We have reclaimed all those areas and you are saying Boko Haram is not defeated.

This is not to talk of how many local governments that were under the Boko Haram control then. Once you leave Maiduguri, you can’t go beyond that to the border with Chad and Cameroon.

Also, from Monguno upward, so many local governments were under the Boko Haram terrorist organisation but the incessant attacks that were going on across the country had stopped.

And apart from that, you are talking of my achievements. So much was achieved; we have modernized the Nigerian Army, among others.

We heard about monies for arms and weapons not spent for arms and weapons when you were there. Would you say that you deployed funds meant for arms as and when due?

This is another big fallacy, especially against me, and I had cause to talk about that on a few occasions. I even attempted to make some cases against some individuals or organisations. I think I don’t want to lament if I want to use that word.

There was no single fund given to me directly that I used without going through the budgetary processes. Go and check it. And all those budgetary releases were properly accounted for.

The records are there in our procurement system. All the funds that were claimed to have been used for procurement and they are alleging that it was not properly used, they were all part of the funds that were released to the Ministry of Defence for other purposes and other agencies.

I think the fund that they have continuously to hammer on, please, do your research, you will discover that this same $1 billion that has been bandied about, has been explained.

The opposition party – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – in 2019, alleged that the Federal Government used that money for elections. But the Federal Government came out and dispelled that falsehood and made it clear that this fund was used for military procurement. And that procurement was mainly paid either directly from government to government or sent to the Ministry of Defence for procurement.

The Army, Navy, or Air Force never had even a single dollar to make procurement from that fund. And equally, this same fund they are talking about falsely, immediately when we left office, they said the same fund could not be accounted for and the equipment could not be found. And these are all false and malicious and disappointing, especially from certain individuals, who are highly placed.

So, it’s a false allegation. Let’s do the research and identify where that money went to. If there is any money that is said to have been misappropriated during my time, I think it’s false, and I establish a procurement directorate that we would due process all our procurements were followed.

So, I assure you these allegations are unfounded, and it’s just malicious for political reasons. And to let you know, some of the procurements that were made of them were from the budgetary allocations.

And so much has been released. I mean, we have been procured from those releases, and they are there, and our records are there. And every year, we defend these things with the National Assembly, and we render our procurement planning and this into the appropriate authority.